One-Pager · 10 Services

Azure Data & Analytics at a Glance

Every core Azure data and analytics service on one page — what it does, when to use it, and how they compare. A quick reference for architects building modern data platforms.

Azure Synapse Analytics

Unified analytics platform combining data warehousing, big data pipelines, and data exploration. Serverless and dedicated SQL pools, Spark, and built-in Power BI integration.

Data warehouseBig dataUnifiedServerless SQL

Microsoft Fabric

End-to-end SaaS analytics platform. Lakehouse, warehouse, real-time analytics, data science, and Power BI in a unified experience with OneLake storage.

LakehouseUnified SaaSOneLakeCU billing

Azure Data Factory

Cloud-scale ETL/ELT and data integration service. 100+ built-in connectors, mapping data flows, and orchestration pipelines. Code-free and code-first options.

ETL/ELTData integration100+ connectorsOrchestration

Azure Databricks

Apache Spark-based analytics platform for data engineering, data science, and ML. Unity Catalog for governance, Delta Lake for reliable lakehouse architecture.

SparkML / Data scienceDelta LakeUnity Catalog

Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

Massively scalable hierarchical storage for analytics workloads. Built on Blob Storage with hierarchical namespace, fine-grained ACLs, and ADLS driver support.

Data lakeHierarchicalExabyte scaleACLs

Azure Stream Analytics

Real-time stream processing service using SQL-like queries. Ingest from Event Hubs, IoT Hub, or Blob. Output to Power BI, Synapse, Cosmos DB, and more.

Real-timeStreaming SQLEvent HubsLow latency

Azure Event Hubs

Big data streaming platform and event ingestion service. Millions of events per second with partitioned consumer model. Kafka-compatible endpoint available.

Event ingestionKafka compatMillions/secCapture

Azure HDInsight

Managed open-source analytics clusters — Hadoop, Spark, Hive, Kafka, HBase, and more. Enterprise-grade with security, monitoring, and autoscale.

HadoopOpen-sourceMulti-frameworkManaged

Azure Data Explorer (ADX)

Fast, fully managed analytics service for real-time analysis of large volumes of streaming data. KQL query language, optimized for telemetry and log analytics.

TelemetryLog analyticsKQLSub-second

Power BI

Business intelligence and visualization platform. Interactive dashboards, self-service analytics, and enterprise reporting. Direct integration with all Azure data services.

DashboardsSelf-service BIDAXEnterprise

Quick Comparison

Service	Category	Best For	Query Language	Key Differentiator
Synapse Analytics	Warehouse + Spark	Unified DWH & big data	T-SQL / Spark	Serverless + dedicated pools
Microsoft Fabric	SaaS analytics	End-to-end data platform	T-SQL / KQL / DAX	OneLake, unified SaaS
Data Factory	ETL / Orchestration	Data integration pipelines	Visual / Code	100+ connectors
Databricks	Lakehouse / ML	Data engineering & science	Spark SQL / Python	Delta Lake, Unity Catalog
ADLS Gen2	Storage	Analytics data lake	N/A (storage)	Hierarchical namespace
Stream Analytics	Streaming	Real-time event processing	Stream SQL	No-code streaming
Event Hubs	Ingestion	High-throughput event intake	N/A (ingest)	Kafka compatible
HDInsight	Open-source	Hadoop/Spark clusters	HiveQL / Spark SQL	Multi-framework managed
Data Explorer	Real-time analytics	Telemetry & log analysis	KQL	Sub-second queries
Power BI	BI / Visualization	Dashboards & reporting	DAX / M	Self-service enterprise BI